The week hardly seems to have begun when it is already drawing to a close!  There is progress on projects wherever you look, so here is  but a glimpse of what is going on around the RHEC…

Below: I promised some photographs of Newcastle Corporation Transport buses in Saxe Blue livery (before they went dark blue in the late 1920s).  These views were found in storage and have been scanned and tidied up and though they show some signs of age, they give a good impression of the livery and the variations that were applied to each design of bus and bodywork, particularly with regard to the trip and beading – this caused our decision to highlight the raided beading on the B-Type in the style of a 1920s coachpainter – there being no definitive example to copy of course! Note the lettering on the first photograph…

Below: Phil has varnished the B-Type bus, after applying new crests and legal lettering.  Chris is finishing the new mudguards and fitting these so that they can be painted.  There remains some detailing work to complete but a very good impression of the Saxe Blue livery can now be obtained – it will look even better in daylight!

Below: The Beamish Tramway Group and Hugh, the Tramway Electrician, have been busy refurbishing and installing overhead line indicators in the depot yard, visible to both outbound and inbound trams.  Les Brunton provided the following notes:

Both lamp boxes have been recovered and refurbished from our Tramway Stores, and probably came as part of the George Hearse overhead collection.  Both are trolleybus frog direction indicators.

Pole D5:  Box of Forest City, Manchester, manufacture, probably from Newcastle; from memory the only electric frog of this this type was formerly at Blue House, Town Moor – although later replaced by a BICC type.

Below: Pole D2A:  Indicator box of BICC manufacture, probably from South Shields, where they used a green light bar for the ‘normal’ frog direction and a red light bar for the ‘set’ direction.

Below: Tony and Matt are busy creating a new oil and lighting-up-wood store at Rowley.  The refurbished water tank will be installed later in the year and the station coaling point moved to this site as well.

Below: Some sad news from the Colliery – Charlie, the three-year old cat so often seen in the engine shed and around the village was sadly run over last week whilst exploring the perimeters of the site.  Keeping him out of the paint tent we erected around No.18 when painting the loco last summer proved to quite a challenge!